The top ten most beautiful trees in the world includes “fire tree”, “red flame”, “flaming tree” - Royal Delonix. Madagascar's dry deciduous forests are considered its homeland, but the plant grows on other continents. The tree is decorative, therefore it is planted as decoration in parks, squares, along roads. Especially a lot of it in America, where Delonix was brought back in the XVII century. But the plant has practical benefits: in height it grows no more than 12 m, most often about 9 m, but the crown is very sprawling and creates an excellent natural shelter from the scorching sun on hot days.
Royal Delonix, although it comes from the tropics, is able to withstand prolonged droughts, but it is not used to frost, the minimum temperature for it is at least -1 ° C. In sunny regions, where the air temperature remains high for a long time and no precipitation occurs, the tree drops foliage for several months to save moisture, and in other areas it is a wonderful evergreen plant.
The leaves of Delonix are twice pinnate, bright green, their length reaches about half a meter and has up to 40 pairs of primary leaves, which in turn are divided into 20 pairs of secondary leaves. This beautiful flowering tree impresses with its beautiful large flowers collected in multi-flowered racemose inflorescences. They consist of five petals, one of which is slightly longer than the others and differs in color. It is called a sail and serves to attract insects.
In almost all the warm corners
of the globe, you can find Delonix Royal. The fire tree is cultivated in Africa, Australia, the
Caribbean, southern China, southern Brazil, Thailand, and Cyprus. In the northern regions, for two winter months, the plant discards leaves, which again appear in the spring. Flowering occurs in June and lasts from one to two and a half months.
Royal Delonix is unpretentious in leaving, does not require fertilizer application, it is practically not attacked by pests. With age, the tree becomes more beautiful, and its flowering - more abundant. In gardens or squares, watering is specially reduced at the end of winter. As a result, Delonix Royal at the end of spring is covered with lush flowering. The plant must grow in open areas in order to get enough light.
In countries with frosty winters, Delonix royal cannot grow in open ground, so it is often grown in the
form of bonsai. Such a tree is best placed on the south window, and on particularly hot days do partial shade so that the leaves do not receive
a sunburn. In summer, the plant feels good at temperatures up to 30 ° C, and in winter - not lower than 12 ° C. During the dormant period, Delonix royal can partially or completely discard the leaves. At home, you need to provide the tree with high humidity, as fertilizer, you can use fertilizer for flowering plants. Transplantation is carried out annually in the spring months.